Des Moines University » Michelle Kubikhttp://www.dmu.edu
Iowa medical schoolTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:44:52 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1PA students go big, take prize in volunteeringhttp://www.dmu.edu/dose/2014/11/pa-students-go-big-take-prize-volunteering/
http://www.dmu.edu/dose/2014/11/pa-students-go-big-take-prize-volunteering/#commentsTue, 25 Nov 2014 12:00:10 +0000http://www.dmu.edu/?p=55442Given the intense curriculum and non-stop schedule of students in DMU’s physician assistant program, they could be rightfully expected to hoard any spare moments of down time for zoned-out sleep. Not so: Despite the high rigor and relentless pace of their academic pursuits, last year members of the PA Class of 2015 set a new record for the most volunteer hours per student.

They also scorched their competition – their PA student counterparts at the University of Iowa – in the annual student volunteer contest of the Iowa Physician Assistant Society (IPAS). The DMU students racked up 33.82 hours of volunteering per student, compared to the 11.75 hours by the University of Iowa PA students.

Winning the contest meant DMU received $400 in addition to the $1,000 IPAS provides each of the state’s two PA programs to offset the costs of students’ attending the national conference of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. The monetary award wasn’t what drove the DMU PA Class of 2015, however.

“We were told about the IPAS competition at the beginning of the year, and we set a goal of 25 volunteer hours per student. However, our focus was on getting involved with local medical organizations and serving the community, and because of that we exceeded our goal,” says class member Michelle Kubik. “It was just a nice bonus that we were able to beat the University of Iowa in the process.”

Kubik and fellow PA student Emily Walker served as the class’s community service co-chairs, planning and coordinating volunteer opportunities for class members throughout their didactic year. Their activities included Salvation Army bell-ringing, a holiday adopt-a-family effort and service to the Ronald Mc Donald House, Easter Seals of Iowa and Youth Emergency Services and Shelter of Iowa.

“It was a great opportunity to show our support for local and national medical associations while serving our community,” Walker says.

She and Kubik say the class’s favorite event was probably the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night event, inspired by Pam Harrison Chambers, PA-C’92, M.P.H.’01, associate professor in the program and a lymphoma survivor. The students raised more than $5,000 for the organization through individual fundraising and a class bake sale. Thirty students volunteered at the event.

The PA students volunteered in campus-wide opportunities and in activities with their campus clubs, too.

“Many students also found individual ways to volunteer based on their own personal interests and involvement, such as assisting neighbors with yard work and volunteering at church,” Walker says.

Adds Kubik, “All of these opportunities, combined with our classmates’ selfless attitudes and passion for
others in our community, led to an extremely service-oriented year for the PA class.”

]]>http://www.dmu.edu/dose/2014/11/pa-students-go-big-take-prize-volunteering/feed/0PA-15 class sets service recordhttp://www.dmu.edu/dose/2014/06/pa-15-class-sets-service-record/
http://www.dmu.edu/dose/2014/06/pa-15-class-sets-service-record/#commentsMon, 30 Jun 2014 16:39:05 +0000http://www.dmu.edu/?p=50788Intercollegiate rivalries typically revolve around the football field or basketball court. But when Des Moines University and University of Iowa Physician Assistant students face off, it’s in a friendly service-oriented competition. There’s a prize at stake, but the real winner is community organizations that benefit.

Each year, the Iowa and DMU PA programs challenge each other to an Iowa Physician Assistant Society (IPAS) Student Volunteer Contest. Whichever class accumulates the most service hours wins scholarships to the national PA Society Conference. This year, DMU trounced Iowa by logging 33.82 volunteer hours per student, compared to 11.75 at U of I.

“We were told about the IPAS competition at the beginning of the year, and we set a goal of 25 volunteer hours per student,” says Michelle Kubik, who served as Community Service Co-Chair for the PA-15 class. “Our focus was on getting involved with local medical organizations and serving the community, and because of that we exceeded our goal. It was just a nice bonus that we were able to beat University of Iowa in the process.”

Kubik and co-chair Emily Walker worked closely with numerous organizations, including the American Lung Association and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, to get involved with events and fundraisers.

The PA-15 class volunteers at Light the Night

“Our class’s favorite event was probably the ‘Light the Night’ event for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, where the PA-15s raised more than $5,000 for the organization through individual fundraising and a class bake sale,” Kubik says. “We had 30 students volunteer at the event and we enjoyed being able to support our PA Faculty member who is a lymphoma survivor and who was our inspiration for supporting this organization.”

Other projects in this record-setting year included Salvation Army bell ringing, Adopt-A-Family for the holidays, preparing meals for the Ronald McDonald House, health screenings at the Easter Seals of Iowa disabilities fair, and volunteering with Youth Emergency Services & Shelter of Iowa (YESS).

“All of these opportunities, combined with our classmates’ selfless attitudes and passion for others in our community, led to an extremely service-oriented year for the PA class,” Kubik says.

This cardboard version of DMU’s Mobile Clinic featured an examination table and waiting room, earning an honorable mention at Des Moines’ Reggie’s Sleepout.

This fall, Maggi Schutte, D.P.T.’16, invited her classmates to join her in supporting an organization she loves, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. A group of physician assistant students saluted a beloved faculty member by benefitting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Yet another group of students spent most of a chilly night in a cardboard structure to raise awareness and funds to help homeless Iowa youth.

These are typical examples of how DMU students take breaks from textbooks, lectures and labs – in activities that meet needs, serve others and support great causes.

Physician assistant students raised more than $5,000 for leukemia and lymphoma research and patient support.

“As future health care providers, we want to be involved with various health care organizations in their support of the community,” explains Emily Walker, PA’15, one of the organizers of a group of about 25 classmates and family members to participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s annual Light the Night Walk on Oct. 12. Physician assistant students regularly volunteer at the event in honor of Pam Harrison Chambers, M.P.H.’01, PA-C’92, associate professor in the physician assistant program and a leukemia survivor. This was the second consecutive year the DMU group raised more than $5,000 to support the organization.

“We started with a modest goal for fundraising, but after Mrs. Chambers told her story to the whole class, some of our classmates got really excited about the fundraising aspect,” says Michelle Kubik, PA’15, another group organizer. “As a class, we decided to raise our $500 fundraising goal to an ambitious amount of $5,000. With the support of family, friends and faculty at DMU, we were able to exceed it.”

As an undergraduate at Truman State University, Schutte got involved with St. Jude’s “Up ‘til Dawn” effort and last year was its philanthropic director. “When I graduated, I was so sad to leave it behind so jumped at the opportunity to get involved with [St. Jude’s] Give Thanks Walk,” she says. She recruited 11 physical therapy classmates to join her for the Nov. 23 event at Valley West Mall in West Des Moines; they raised more than $2,000 for the research hospital. They were joined by two DMU osteopathic medical students, who came donned as superheroes to help motivate the walkers.

True superheroes: DMU students stepped out for St. Jude Hospital.

“Next year I’m hoping to expand the team to other disciplines on campus as well,” Schutte notes.

Other DMU “superheroes” included 10 members of the University’s Homeless Camp Outreach (HCO) who participated Nov. 16 in Reggie’s Sleepout, an annual event in Des Moines to raise awareness and money to address youth homelessness in central Iowa. The event is named after Reggie Kelsey, who aged out of the foster care system in 2001 and, three and a half months later, died in the Des Moines River. Proceeds, which totaled nearly $130,000 this year, benefit Iowa Homeless Youth Centers.

Sleepout participants spend part or all of the night in cardboard structures, pup tents or sleeping bags in Drake University’s football stadium. The DMU team modeled their structure after the DMU Mobile Clinic, which students and clinicians use to provide services and information to the city’s homeless. Thanks to their structure’s features – including an examination table, privacy curtain and waiting room – the team took home an “honorable mention” for best overall design.

“My garage became a holding tank for cardboard starting in September,” says HCO member and second-year osteopathic medical student Mary Heady, who led the organization’s sleepout effort. “I’m so proud of HCO’s attendance and team spirit through the whole thing…In the end we accomplished the overarching HCO goal of raising awareness of unsheltered communities.”